AlphaDigits

Antigen – Obliterate the Enemy in a Retro Shooter Game

Takes you back to the 80s!

In a retro-style shooting game that takes one back to the days of arcade play in the 80s, Antigen is a game that puts the duty of disease control in your hands. You become Chief Scientist of Antigen Labs, pioneer of combat nanotechnology. Only you have the solution; and the world is depending on you. The game is offered on iOS 4.3 and newer, and works on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. It sends you back in time, during the early years of the 21st century. The dilemma? Pollution proliferates across skies. Epidemics have become endemic. Untreatable diseases abound, without cause or solution.

As head of Antigen Labs, you have the power to annihilate the offenders and bring peaceful existence to the world’s population. However, the solution is not that simple. The general public is wary of your ability to wipe out the bacteria and viruses that seek to take over. You need to prove you can do just what you claim your technology can accomplish.

The game opens up with an extremely easy to use interface. The big plus point is reading up on how to play using the Help page, which can be accessed by tapping on the question mark icon. There is easy access to the creator’s website. Volume for sound effects and music can be adjusted from this main screen using the Options icon. The app has Game Center integration, so your scores can be shared with others, and you can see just how well you perform against others, using the Scores icon, in the battle to defeat disease.

Playing is fairly simple, as outlined in the instructions. The left finger is used to move your shooter around a path that encircles the diseases you are aimed at destroying. The path is denoted by the rainbows of swirls. As you slide your left finger left and right, your shooter moves accordingly.

Tapping your right finger fires the shooter. Tap to fire; and the faster you tap, the more rapid the firing, enabling you to obliterate at a faster rate. Tapping occurs at both the bottom left and bottom right corners, and the app has conveniently placed fingerprints in each location, so there is no confusion. The game plays in landscape mode, so holding your device is easier and spacing of graphics is clearer.

Antigen was easy to pick up on, however, it was extremely difficult to maneuver the shooter. I would swipe my left finger up and down, side to side, and even in an arc mimicking the shape of the circular path around which the shooter must travel; yet, it was cumbersome moving my shooter as fast as I wanted to. It would make miniscule shifts along its path, not getting to where I wanted it to be in time to target a virus or bacterium or any other enemy. Better controls with shooter movement are a must.

It does provide some simple entertainment and shooters good practice, once you get the hang of it.